Nihongo Lesson 08/28/15

Get your Japanese language degree from WSJU!

By John Bae August 28, 2015

Welcome to the Nihongo Lesson feature. We strive to give you useful manga-based Japanese language tips and maybe even a glimpse into the translation process. This week’s lesson will once again focus on school tropes in manga. Last issue covered up through high school, so this issue we will take it a step further!

DAIGAKU (だいがく)

DAIGAKU means “college.” It’s rare to see characters in Weekly Shonen Jump manga in school settings older than high school. However, one popular manga took it up a notch—Death Note. Light Yagami was a bored high school student when he started his crusade to rid the world of evildoers. However, it was in college that he first went head-to-head against his nemesis, L! I guess that’s one way to fight lecture-hall boredom.

Nl Collegedays 1

HOKENSHITSU (ほけんしつ)

HOKENSHITSU is the “nurse’s office.” It’s a classic trope in school manga for characters to end up in the nurse’s office. One popular use for the nurse’s office is to skip class and sleep there! Midoriya in My Hero Academia seems to end up in the nurse’s office a lot. Lucky for him, Recovery Girl’s kisses make her patients heal really quickly so they can go back to fighting evil as soon as possible.

Nl Collegedays 2

TOSHOKAN (としょかん)

TOSHOKAN means “library.” The library is a great place to study and learn new things. It’s also the perfect place to store copious amounts of knowledge. Nico Robin in One Piece is from the scholarly island of Ohara, where they collected vast amounts of knowledge. Unfortunately, the scholars were wiped out for being too knowledgeable and trying to uncover the dark secrets of the world government.

Nl Collegedays 3

Get more tips by listening to our PODCAST!